Chapter 24

"Calm down Jane. They bought it. You're doing great." Nik whispers to her. Jane finally musters up the courage to look him in the eye.

"Am I? I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing and I feel so guilty. She's so sweet and she thinks you and I are-"

"Shh, don't worry about it. Let's just get through this lunch and then we can go right back to just being friends with benefits, no strings attached." Nik attempts to console her before she has a meltdown in the middle of his family's restaurant. He says the words that she thought she wanted to hear, but they don't help at all. They just make her feel so much worse. She takes a deep breath, trying to slow down her furiously beating heart.

"Okay." She grabs one of the pieces of toasted bread and spreads some mystery spread on top of it. She takes a bite. Fireworks explode in her mouth. So many delicious flavors all in just one bite. It blows her mind.

"Okay?" Nik checks in one more time to ensure that Jane is completely consenting to being his fake girlfriend for the afternoon.

"Okay." She says one more time. Honestly, she will agree to anything if it means she can have another bite of this fancy dip. "What is this stuff? It's incredible!" Jane takes another bite, doing her little happy wiggles followed by tappy feet that she gets when she is thoroughly enjoying something.

"Caponata? You think it's incredible? Hun, you are in for a mind-blowing meal if you are already doing your little dance just to the dip." Seeing as she is no longer freaking out, he feels like he can relax again. He didn't realize he was stressed until he let go of the breath he had been holding.

"So since we are 'dating' now, does this mean I'm privy to information about your childhood? We have to make this believable right? So spill the juicy details. What made Mr. Nikolaos Romano the multi-millionaire that he is today?" Jane puts air quotes around dating, finding herself almost wishing she didn't have to. She shakes that silly notion right out of her head. Feelings complicate things. She enjoys what they have now. It's so simple and effortless. The second she takes one step to close, she knows she will be in for heartbreak.

"Gross. If you want information about me, you will have to butter me up first. You can start by not calling me by my whole name. That just felt so wrong." Nik shudders, remembering the way his name sounded coming from her sweet lips. The name he tries so desperately to throw out at every meeting with a new individual.

"What's wrong with your name? I think it sounds sexy. We are pretend dating now. I need to pretend mix up our names together on a piece of notebook paper like every girl does with her crush at some point in time."

"So there's a crush now huh?" Nik teases, attempting to avoid the topic entirely.

"Shit, you know that's not what I meant." She turns to look away from him, unable to make eye contact after the embarrassing situation she put herself in. In looking away, she notices that the young boy from earlier is staring at her like she is an alien of some kind. Feeling uncomfortable in his criticizing gaze, she decides she'd rather suffer Nik's teasing than the gross stare of some teenage prick.

"Don't deny it, Jane. You know you want me. Hell, Mrs. Nikolaos Romano sounds pretty sweet on my tongue." Nik glides his tongue over his teeth, pretending to taste the words.

"Oh shut up you big dork." If she thought Nan had game when it came to making a woman blush, Nik certainly has her beat. Instead of feeling embarrassed about it, she feels a different kind of warmth. It isn't uncomfortable. It's lively and fun. When was the last time she felt so carefree with anyone?

"Alright, I'll quit, for now." Nik digs into the apps now, satisfied with the work he's put into making Jane calm down again.

As soon as they finish their Caponata, Nan hustles over to the table with sizzling plates of food in her hands. She sets one down in front of each adult and then slides back into the booth, hoping to learn more about her new potential granddaughter-in-law. She tells herself it's just wishful thinking but she can feel the chemistry between the two.

"So, Jane. Tell me about yourself. What's your dream? What's your family like? What do you see in this lugnut?" Nan gestures to her grandson. Nik scoffs incredulously, not really insulted, but he has to put on a show as always.

"Hmm, my dream?" Jane takes a second to ponder, swirling her fork around the pasta on her plate. "I don't really know if I have any major goals or aspirations. I went into the field that I'm in, research, to help people. Not anything crazy, just doing what little I can to spread some kindness wherever I reach. Other than that? I think I just want to be happy. That's enough for me."

"It's refreshing to see the youth of this world still trying to take care of it. So, family? Any siblings? What are your parents like? Do you want a family one day?" Nan slips this last question in quickly, trying to glaze over it so that Nik doesn't get on her case. He shoots her a warning glare and she backs off.

"I'm an only child. It would have been cool to have siblings, but I don't. Just me. And as for my parents. We don't really see each other much anymore. I live farther away and my job keeps me pretty busy. It sucks, but I like to think that they are proud of me, even if I don't get the chance to speak with them and feel that pride from them." Jane pushes the pasta-wrapped fork past her lips, hoping to end the family conversation there for now.

"I can tell they are proud of you. I mean who wouldn't be proud of having a beautiful daughter with a good head on her shoulders and passion for others in her heart." Nope, Nan definitely has Nik beat when it comes to sweet-talking.

"Nan, stop grilling the poor girl. Besides, you haven't asked about me yet!" Nik steers the conversation onto himself, trying to keep Jane from feeling put on the spot too much.

"What about you?" Nan rolls her eyes and taps her fingers on the tabletop. Just as Nik is about to start going off on some tangent about himself and his business decisions, Nan fakes some urgency. "Well look at that, I really need to get back to all these tables. You can tell me all about your work next time Nikky. You understand right?" This time, Nik is the one to roll his eyes but stands up to give his grandmother a tight squeeze and kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah Yeah, I get it. Only interested in the shiny new toy and not your literal flesh and blood. I'll survive this heartache." Nik chuckles, words laced with sarcasm and slight annoyance. Nan gives him one more quick squeeze before retreating back into the kitchen to do god knows what.

Nik returns to his side of the booth, deciding he has squished Jane against the restaurant wall for long enough. He digs into his plate of chicken parm and before long, the pair are full, happy, and ready to pay the bill. Nan doesn't return, but rather the blonde boy from before cashes them out. Jane can feel something off about him, but she isn't sure if it's him or if it's just her own insecurity so she brushes it off like it's nothing.

Once they are paid and ready to leave, Nik pulls Jane into a quick hot kiss. Before Jane fully comprehends what's going on, he is already pulling her out the door and onto the next destination for the day. She just shakes her head at the taller male who always has to put on some kind of show.

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The front doors to Nik's house swing open. The sun is far beneath the horizon now, leaving the sky dark and speckled with stars. Jane slips off her wedges at the front entrance and races upstairs to the balcony to try and get a better view of the upper atmosphere.

As soon as her hand meets the cold metal of the banister, she peers up above, admiring everything that space and the universe offer her. She could stand here, looking up at it all forever if she could, but eventually, she gets chilly. She barges into Nik's bathroom to change into some pajamas to get comfy after a long day of touring the town. California has so much more to offer than her crusty old city. But she wouldn't trade her city for anything. That's her home. It's imperfect and real. L.A. is too much like Nik's house, beautiful, spotless, void of almost all realistic human struggle, at least to the outsider's eye.

She's happy that Nik took her to that little Italian eatery. Seeing little pieces of his personality filter through his 'perfect' persona is what keeps him at the forefront of her mind, like a puzzle she wants to solve, and boy is she gonna solve it.